A day ride in the Virgin Mtns.

Our last ATV club ride of the year took us outside of Mesquite into the Virgin Mtn Range. It's a nice place to ride with a lot more to see than you'd think when viewing it from a distance. Ten of were friding that day, I was the only girl on the trip. This dog was wondering the area when we got there. Friendly guy, he didn't hesitate to jump up on the trailer, welcome us and invite himself into the back of the truck. I wondered if he had been dumped because he didn't wonder far from there area. We noticed him at a farm accross the river on the way back to the trucks so I guess he was just out exploring.

Our first stop of the day was an old coral, they still gather cattle there.

Our second stop was an steam engine (at least part of one). We've been trying to find it for several trips. How did they get it up here I wonder? There are no track up here. We could see Mesquite from this location.

I just thought this would make a cool Christmas wreath, but I didn't take it home with me. Some cowboy will need it sooner or later.

On our adventures we passed through beer can fence. I don't who actually puts them all up there but it's kinda quirky.

Our main destination for the day was run up Cabin Creek. It used to have a road but was completely washed out several years ago. Now it's a fun and challenging route only ATV's traverse. Normally, we run down it but this time we decided to go up instead.
Notice the tow rope in this photo. Yup, old BM brought his 'craptor' and lost the clutch just into the Cabin Creek run. That's the second clutch he's lost. What an idiot! Why he insists on bringing that thing is beyond me. We had to tow him the rest of the way up and out of Cabin Creek and back to the trucks. Almost 28 miles! Many took turns hauling his ass up and down the trail.

It was still a good day's ride. We didn't make it to the mica mine since we were towing the 'craptor' and a few other stops but we did make it back to the trucks before the wind was really bad and made it home before the storm it.

The Annual Christmas Tree Hunt

Christmas Tree hunting has been a tradition in my family since I was about 10 years old. Normally, we would make a whole weekend out of it, take the trailers, my parents and siblings would all head north to central Nevada near Caliente, Pioche and such to search out the perfect tree. And 'YES', it really is a hunt to find just the right tree.

As all of our families have grown, lives have become busier, making it more difficult to get all of us together for the hunt. This year, my family went to Utah to get our trees. Our daughter in law works on Saturdays so we left bright and early Sunday morning to make our run to Cedar mountain. Now it would be easy if it were just the 5 of us. But we can't leave out the dogs. They love to go and explore the great outdoors! So the shell went back of the truck Saturday morning, on Sunday 3 kennels went into the back of the truck with 3 excited dogs. We tucked them all under a blanket to keep them warm. Scott & Christy's newest puppy rode in the back seat with kids. (She gets car sick by the way.) That is normally Cassy's domain, alas she was in the back with Roxy and Shelby.

The boys were hoping for snow and they got it. Timm, I think, would have preferred no snow. He was concerned about getting the truck stuck (that happened a few years ago) and with no one else with us he was much more cautious than normal. We tried a few dirt roads but quickly decided to just pull of the side of the road and walk back into the woods. The dogs were excited to be out of the kennels and play in the snow. Cassy just loves it. She runs around, drops onto her shoulder and plows her face into the snow, she makes 'snow angels', and more. You can see the smile on her face.

Shelby still looks for sticks to play fetch. She found one and when it came out of the snow it was about 12 feet long. It was quite a sight watching her fetch after it and carry it around. It's only about 4 feet long in this photo. Whe brought it home as a souvenier. We took photos for Christmas cards with all the dogs. Not an wasy feat by any means. Someone is never paying attention. The ones of all of us are on Scott's camera so they will have to be shown later.

On the way home, we stopped by our favorite Mexican restaurant in Cedar for lunch. Yummy! You'd think we hadn't eaten in 3 days...tree hunting is hard work don't you know. Now I know we could spend a lot less money on a tree by getting one here in town...but what fun would that be. Tree hunting is part of our Christmas tradition around here that really brings us all together and what great memories they are. I can't wait to get in the house and decorated.

Exploring Tecopa Mining District

We finally took the RV and the ATV's out over Thanksgiving weekend. They haven't left the yard since the end of June. We've been slightly busy with purchasing a house, remodeling, moving, etc.

We met up with friends on Friday morning to spend a weekend exploring the Tecopa Mining District. We tend to camp in the middle of nowhere so we can be closer to the things we are trying to find. We camped here in February but that weekend was cut short due to rain. This weekend however was a glorious weekend...the weather couldn't have been better. We actually had rain (I know, we live in the desert and so seldomget rain) so the trails had very little dust...even better.

At the China Ranch Date Farm, we purchased a book on the history of the area. That wasn't our purpose but it was a great purchase. We actually ventured down there for milk shakes, then they lured us in for some fresh baked bread...YUMMY! With a little reading we were ready to hit the trails to find a few places, it's very helpful and more satisfying. It makes it much more interesting when you know what the names are, what was being mined, etc.

The guys went out in the afternoon for a fun ride in the wash near the Sperry Trail. They found an overlook for Dumont Dunes. Holy Cow...what would make 20,000 people gather to form a small city. It was huge! We aren't into dunes so I guess we just don't get it. We did go back out for a night ride to the smae spot to see it in the dark. It was lit up just like Vegas!

We much prefer the peace and quiet around a campfire with friends, listening to the coyotes call to each other. The stars were just amazing! The Milky Way was bright, and you could see Venus and Jupiter hanging out with the cresent moon in the western sky.

Cassy was so happy to get on daddy's quad. She is a quad riding dog! She went on almost all the rides, only stayed in camp with mom one afternoon. She covered about 80 miles with us over the weekend. Not bad for a lab.